BIOGRAPHY

TiMonde was born in the Caribbean capital of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. His father, a military colonel in the Haitian army, was involved in the attempted coup against the then newly elected president of Haiti, the infamous “Papa Doc” Duvalier, in 1963. The coup was foiled by Kennedy administration’s indecisiveness, which compromised the military plotters and their families, and forced the toddler TiMonde and his mother into an exile that landed them in New York City. After several years of political intrigue, TiMonde’s father joined them in Manhattan.

Surrounded by English-speaking toddlers in kindergarten, TiMonde found refuge in art projects as a means of expression and contemplation, an activity in which he continues to find comfort.

He completed his preparatory schooling at La Salle Military Academy, in Oakdale Long Island, a boarding school run by the Christian Brothers on the Great South Bay, in a sort of Catcher in the Rye setting. TiMonde later attended college at St. John’s University and majored in Communications Arts. Although desirous of pursuing a career in the arts, he followed his instincts and financial realities and, with some degree of parental influence, entered the law school at St. John’s University, graduating 1987.

In 1995, while a practicing attorney in New York City, he took classes in drawing, composition and design at the Art Student League of New York, which included the Saturday open studio with New York artist Ronnie Landfield. He has also sought mentoring from and taken private studio lessons with New York artist and School of Visual Arts Instructor Farrell Brickhouse.

The artist selected the name TiMonde as a creative identification — like an urban tagging or a web pseudonym — of his persona and art in order to separate his professional career from his art.

The name TiMonde means little world.